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Should Be Reading - Miz B - hosts this weekly event. We throw out a couple of sentences from our current read (without spoilers, of course) to entice you to read the book.

This week my teaser is from The Lacuna by Barbara Kingsolver, page 57:

Mother is right about the city ending just south of where we live. It isn't South America, but the streets turn to dirt lanes and it's like a village, with families living in wattle huts around dirt courtyards, children squatting in the mud, mothers making fires to cook tortillas. Grandmothers sit on blankets weaving more blankets for other grandmothers to sit on. Between the houses, gardens of maize and beans.

1. We need the towel rack, grab bars and shower curtain rod installed to FINISH the new bathroom! woot!

2. I flushed our new toilet for the first time and it made me smile.

3. If you want to get in touch with me, email is the best bet

4. I have potty mouth today because I'm so excited about our new bathroom!

5. Massachusetts has a proposed 5% sales tax on elective cosmetic surgery; I think I have no opinion about this, other than it seems arbitrary.

6. Being with our friends and family makes for a happy holiday.

7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to some quiet time at home, tomorrow my plans include a rehearsal and attending a house concert and Sunday, I want to perform with Gwen in our own house concert !
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Should Be Reading - Miz B - hosts this weekly event. We throw out a couple of sentences from our current read (without spoilers, of course) to entice you to read the book.

This week my teaser is from Elizabeth and Her German Garden by Elizabeth Von Arnim, page 56:

I have been much afflicted again lately by visitors - not stray callers to be got rid of after a due administration of tea and things you are sorry afterward that you said, but people staying in the house and not to be got rid of at all. All June was lost to me in this way, and it was from first to last a radiant month of heat and beauty; but a garden where you meet the people you saw at breakfast, and will see again at lunch and dinner is not a place to be happy in.

It's the end of the 19th century and I'm living on a German estate north of Berlin, enchanted by the wild gardens; I spend every waking moment outside, after leaving the stultifying dullness of Berlin society.
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I was going to wish you a happy Ides of November, but apparently, according to Answers.com, in November, ides are on the 13th:

Ides: pl.n. (used with a sing. or pl. verb)The 15th day of March, May, July, or October or the 13th day of the other months in the ancient Roman calendar.

Who figures these things out anyway? OK, I'm just stalling here, because I've hardly read ten pages this week. I'm in what is known as a reading slump. It's not that I haven't anything interesting to read - my shelves are full of luscious books waiting to be devoured. I'm actually stuck in the middle of two excellent books: Life and Fate by Vasilly Grossman - a Russian tome about WWII and the Holocaust; and The Glass Castle by Jeanette Walls - a memoir about Walls' exceedingly dysfunctional family. So what's not to love?I'm afraid if I set them aside and move on to other reads, I won't ever pick them up again, and I really do want to read them. And I have some very compelling books waiting in the wings: Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel, the newest recipient of the Man Booker prize and The Lacuna, Barbara Kingsolver's first novel in nine years. Oh, so hard to resist. But resist I will. I feel compelled to finish the other two books, I just need to plunge back in.

What about you? What do you do when you're in a reading slump? Do you power through a book or two or just take a break?

I hope you're enjoying your Sunday, wherever you are. It looks like it will be a rainy one here in Portland..
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I haven't done a Weekly Geeks post for quite awhile! This week's topic:

Share with us a podcast you love, preferably book related, but not necessarily so. Give us the link, of course, and share with us details about that podcast and why you enjoy it so much. If you have a couple or three favorites, share them all!

I used to listen to podcasts a lot more when I was working - often to drown out the noise of downtown construction or of chatty co-workers. The ones I listened to most are not necessarily book-related, but authors are often interviewed and it sometimes piqued my interest about their books. These are all such high quality shows and the podcasts are all quite reliable (not all programs are!)

Fresh Air with Terry Gross. I'm so glad this is a podcast because I rarely remember to tune in when it's on the radio. Terry is a fabulous interviewer and her guests cover a very wide spectrum, from authors to generals to actors.

This American Life with Ira Glass. Just brilliant. Sometimes funny, often poignant. David Sedaris is a regular guest as is Sarah Vowell. Hint: you need to download this one the week immediately following the airing of the show for the free podcast; after that they're available for 99 cents each (still a good deal).

I'm grateful for this theme this week because now I'm remembering how much I enjoyed listening to these shows while I worked or rode the bus. I must make time for them again..
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1. The last band I saw live was probably the same band I’m going to see tomorrow – Motherlode

2. What I look forward to most on Thanksgiving is time with our families.

3. My Christmas/holiday shopping is almost non-existent.

4. Thoughts of music fill my head. (Of course, now that you mentioned bagpipes, Amazing Grace is running through my head!)

5. I wish I could wear pierced earrings.

6. Bagpipes can sometimes make me feel melancholy.

7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to quiet time at home, tomorrow my plans include a band rehearsal, dinner with friends and a concert, and Sunday, I want to read and sing.Read More!

Should Be Reading - Miz B - hosts this weekly event. We throw out a couple of sentences from our current read (without spoilers, of course) to entice you to read the book.

This week my teaser is from The Glass Castle by Jeanette Walls page 56:

After dinner, the whole family stretched out on the benches and the floor of the depot and read, with the dictionary in the middle of the room so we kids could look up words we didn't know. Sometimes I discussed the definitions with Dad, and if we didn't agree with what the dictionary writers said, we sat down and wrote a letter to the publishers. they'd write back defending their position, which would prompt an even longer letter from Dad, and if they replied again, so would he, until we stopped hearing from the dictionary people.

Hmm, where am I? Bouncing around between small mining towns, big cities (Phoenix, Las Vegas), West Virginia, the desert; living in trailers, an abandoned train depot, available shacks, with family - never very long in one place, with parents like mine.
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Poor little blog, you look so lonely. I've been off spending time with my photo blog and neglecting you. So in honor of my decision to pay more attention to you (including writing book reviews) I've decided on a makeover. What do you think of your new look?

So first, Saloners and other readers (if there are any of you left!) a little update on my reading progress. I was aiming for 125 books for 2009, but at some point last month, I realized I'll be lucky to reach 100. And that's just fine. My challenges were tending to cause me angst, which defeats the whole purpose of reading books, yes? I do have a fun challenge set up for 2010 (more details later) that involves a lot of the books I've been wanting to read anyway, and almost all of which are on my bookshelves already.

Just to have some closure on my challenges: out of nine challenges, I've completed all but two. Here are the stats:

What's In a Name: 6 of 6

Dewey's Books: 5 of 5

Decades: 6 of 10 (I'll be reading at least one more of these before year's end)

Pub Challenge: 9 of 9

Booker Prize Challenge: 10 of 12 (The 2009 winner, Wolf Hall, is waiting in the wings, very close at hand)

Orange Prize Challenge: 12 of 12

Essays: 20 of 20

Short Stories: 25 of 25

Classics: 4 of 4

As of today, I'm at 79 books read for the year.

And as promised, here is a book review.===================================================================

Waking by Matthew SanfordI heard Matt Sanford on an NPR program about a year ago and his story touched and fascinated me. In 1978, at age 13, he was in a terrible auto accident that killed his father and sister and left Matt a paraplegic. In this memoir he tells of years of pain, anguish and coming to terms with his paralysis and the grief of losing his father and sister.

Matt spends a number of years in a gray world, disconnected emotionally and spiritually from his body. At some point he becomes aware that his healing story will not involve walking or becoming like one of the super hero paraplegics paraded in front of him for inspiration. Eventually Matthew is introduced to yoga and experiences what he calls an "energetic sensation within my mind-body relationship." He pursues yoga intensely - though it is not a linear progression; he experiences many setbacks. Eventually, Matt goes on to teach yoga to both walking people and those with disabilities.

I was drawn to Matt's story partly because of my own experience with yoga and with progressive physical limitations. It is a good reminder to all of us to stay conscious of our bodies, not to take them for granted; and that we can change the healing stories that practitioners tell us and that we tell ourselves.